Finally, Morman et al describe Arthroscopic tissue biopsy for evaluation of infection before revision arthroplasty build on the finding of our shoulder fellow, Amy Franta, in her article The complex characteristics of 282 unsatisfactory shoulder arthroplasties. in which it was recognized that patients with shoulder pain after joint replacement may have a low grade infection - for example with P. acnes or S. epidermidis - even though there were none of the usual manifestations of fever, redness, or joint tenderness. We now recognize the importance of holding cultures obtained at the time of revision arthroplasty for over two weeks. Morman reported two such cases diagnosed using arthroscopic biopsy. Specimens from each grew P. acnes at 14 days after surgery. The discussion contains a nice review of the challenges of making this diagnosis.

--

Use the "Search the Blog" box to the right to find other topics of interest to you.